The relatively new company Klout, did a really awesome post on their site blog about iPhone and Android.

If you haven’t heard of Klout, Renee did a great post on them titled: “Have You Got Klout? Track Your Self-Brand”. But for our lazier readers; “Klout is a social media scorecard. The site assigns individuals a personal “Klout Score”, ranging from 1 to a 100, which is a measure “of your overall online influence”.

Because of the fierce competition between Apple and Google devices, in online communities, there has been even fiercer competition amongst those who stand by their respective companies. These individuals; collectively termed “iPhone influencers” and “Android influencers”, by Klout are pitted against each other.

Klout seized the opportunity to use its product, as a way to gauge which group is more influential. Klout posted that although both the iPhone and Android influencers had a higher Klout score than the average Klout user, “the final score is 42.0-40.6, iPhone influencers for the win!”

After personally discovering Klout, I’ve been obsessed with it. I check it at least once a day, and have managed to get my Klout Score up to 39! The reason that Klout is so much fun, is that it turns becoming influential online into a competition. For example, since finding Klout, my girlfriend and I compete to see whose doing better and who is more influential about cooler stuff.

This competitive element is crucial to Klout’s success and therefore it is no wonder Klout makes ample use of competitive language such as “throwdown” and “face off”.

Although we’re shedding no tears over the iPhone influencer’s victory (it was a pretty close competition), the data does suggest that both groups of influencers really know how to project their views into the cyber sphere, and hook internet browsers.

Jesse Braunstein is a Junior at NYU double majoring in Economics and Psychology. Jesse joined Madison Technology and SheBytes.com in May 2011 as a summer intern. Jesse has been instrumental in utilizing his expanding background to come up with creative perspectives on the Marketing, Advertising and Business Development initiatives at both Madison Technology and SheBytes.com. Jesse’s outlook stems from an Economics and Psychology education and a deep understanding of the individual and how the individual acts within and interacts with the market. Follow Jesse on Twitter and Facebook. Check out his About.me.

Want to know if you have clout on the Web? Now there’s a way to track your self-brand! It’s called Klout!

I love anything that not only premeditates the presence of an issue, but that also includes a thoughtful solution for it.

The Issue: As people become increasingly focused on the world of internet marketing, social media, self-branding and social networking, it’s easy to lose track of how well our efforts are actually doing.

The traditional definition of the word “clout” is, “pull; strong influence; muscle”, so it’s easy to see where the Klout team has drawn its inspiration from. Put simply, Klout is a social media scorecard. The site assigns individuals a personal “Klout Score”, ranging from 1 to a 100, which is a measure “of your overall online influence”.

It derives the score by using your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account activity and very intelligently takes into account various parameters to rank your influence (ex: how influential are the people you interact with?). As simple as this may sound, it is Klout’s simplicity that is its greatest strength. Klout has made all of the crucial analytics particularly digestible and competitively enjoyable to track.

Just check out the “Dashboard” and “Profile” features which are packed full of helpful categories:

“Influenced By…” (track who influences you)

“You Influence” (well…that’s pretty clear; track people who you influence)

When you make a Klout account, (which is both quick to set up and a crucial tool for working on self-branding), don’t be discouraged if your score lands somewhere in the bottom of that 1-100 range. My personal score is 46, and I’m referred to as a “Networker”, two things I’m extremely proud of, considering SheBytes is still in its infancy and I absolutely love networking.

Klout has totally transported the customary understanding of “clout” to the modern age, and transformed it from an intimidating adjective into a desirable personal quality.